Award-winning journalist Yolandé Stander will aim to make industry news more accessible to the man in the street in her new role as business reporter for The Herald, which forms part of the Times Media stable.
Stander, who is based in Port Elizabeth, was appointed to the country’s oldest daily newspaper in January following stints as senior reporter at the daily as well as the Weekend Post, one of its sister publications.
According to Stander, her aim is to move away from typical, heavy-reading business jargon to a style that will be more palatable to her readers, who are situated mainly in the Eastern and Southern Cape.
“If you’re not in business, the reporting can often be too technical. So I hope to make the news more comprehensible and also show how it affects everyone.”
Having cut her teeth on the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber’s in-house publications and as a reporter at Die Burger, Stander said she understood the needs of both business and the media.
She said her core focus areas would be the automotive and agricultural sectors as well as the import-export industry, which centred its operations around the local ports at Coega and PE.
“I will also focus on the booming small business sector, which has been side-lined in the past.”
Stander, who was raised in the Friendly City and holds a national diploma in journalism from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, said her local knowledge would be an advantage.
She has already notched up two prestigious national awards under the Times Media banner.
In 2010, Stander won the Editor’s Choice category at the Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards and followed it up last year with a Standard Bank Sikuvile Journalism Award (formerly the Mondi Shanduka Award) for enterprise journalism.
“I love my job. You wake up each morning not knowing what you’re going to do next – there’s something different every day.”
The 28-year-old said she looked forward to bringing a fresh and inclusive approach to her function.
“Things have changed, especially now with the integration of print and online media.
“We are constantly updating our social media with snippets of what’s happening in the paper, which stimulates debate and discussion. It’s great for getting business people talking.”
Alan Straton
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